4.25 stars. CALLER UNKNOWN is an immersive tale about decisions, consequences, and what lengths you’ll go to for your family.

British native Simone is meeting her eighteen-year-old daughter, Lucy, for a camping trip in Texas after Lucy has finished camp over the summer. Her husband, Damien, is remaining in England to manage their restaurant. But the night they arrive, Lucy is kidnapped from their AirBNB rental. Simone is then asked to do the unthinkable to get her back…which she does, and more.

While I disagreed with Simone’s actions and the somewhat implausible situation she got herself into, I was still hooked from the very start. With short chapters, this was a page-turner from beginning to end. I liked the clever plotting of the story and the unexpected direction of the plot. The author certainly knows how to write a compelling story! I absolutely loved the ending, too.

🌟Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.🌟

Gillian McAllister has done it again with a heart pounding, can’t put it down thriller. I was in the middle of a reading slump, but the moment I started Caller Unknown I was completely hooked. From the very first chapter, my heart was racing, and I couldn’t turn pages fast enough. The story is a wild, twisting ride from beginning to end. I loved the eerie, isolated Texas desert setting, the high stakes plot, and the layered, complex characters. While missing child stories are familiar in thrillers, McAllister puts such a fresh, creative spin on it that I never knew what to expect next. The suspense is relentless, and the tension had me reading late into the night. As a mom, I found myself imagining what I would do in Simone’s place this story really dives into the intensity of mother daughter relationships and the lengths a parent will go to protect their child. Caller unknown is ripping, intense, and completely addictive I can’t recommend it enough!

Simone, a Brit, heads to TX to meet her daughter, Lucy. Lucy has been there for an adult singing intensive and this vacation together is their “last hurrah” before Lucy heads off to university.

They arrive at a remote AirBnB, where they are staying a single night, before heading out on their mother/daughter camping adventure. Upon arrival they notice that the door is oddly askew, but just assume it’s worn.

Simone wakes in the middle of the night (4a), thinking she’s heard something. Having only been sleeping for 3h, she falls right back to sleep. In the morning, oddly, Lucy is nowhere to be found. Eventually, Simone realizes that all of Lucy’s belongings have been left behind (including her shoes and phone), there a clump of Lucy’s hair in the hallway, and a phone …not Lucy’s or Simone’s, begins to ring.

This story is about what lengths a Mother will go to save their child from a kidnapping. Will everyone survive the ordeal?

This was really, really slow. Redundant to the point of feeling brutal with a rather anticlimactic ending in my opinion. Not for me.

This was an absolute masterpiece! I’m a huge fan of Gillian as “Wrong place wrong time” was my favorite book in 2024 out of 335 books. So I will read anything by her and this book didn’t let me down.

I’m talking nonstop action with so many moral dilemma’s thrown in. She is an expert of creating a story where you are constantly asking yourself “what would I do in this situation?” I was on the edge of my seat wondering where this story would go and what the resolution would be!

There were strong themes of parenting and letting go of our children to make their way in the world. I loved that as a mother because we can all relate in some way. The sacrifices we gladly make for our children.

The ending blew my mind in the best way possible. This book is a must read for any thriller fanatic!

I'm going to start this review by saying this book seriously needs another round of editing. There are so many issues there.

Otherwise, I thought this was just okay. I didnt think it was anything shocking or amazing.

I loved her other book I had read so was very excited for this and it was a big let down.

The writing style was so different it felt like a different author.

I love a thriller with quick chapters, I especially love it when each chapter feels like a cliff hanger. Absolutely could not put this one down.

Caller Unknown by Gillian McAllister hooked me from the very first chapter! The premise is every parent’s nightmare. Simone wakes up in a remote Texas cabin to find her teenage daughter gone, and replaced by a phone and a chilling voice demanding she follow their instructions. From there, the story turns into a wild mix of tension and moral dilemmas. This book had some pretty crazy twists, but what really stuck with me was how much it hit me in the feels. It’s not just a kidnapping story, but about how far a mom will go when nothing’s off limits! Add this to your TBR is you love thrillers that make you think and keep your heart racing.

I was so excited to read Gillian McAllister’s latest book. Caller Unknown is available this winter. Don’t skip this one. It is an awesome book!

Okay I need to own everything Gillian McAllister writes!!! Wrong place wrong time is a top read of mine from last year. Not only did the author draw me in automatically to wanting to read this book… the synopsis and cover got me too. I love it all! Thank you for the opportunity to read this early!! It was fast paced for me, twisty, and I just love Gillian’s writing style .

3.25 stars

Simone adores her daughter to the point of distraction and has a strange, often tense dynamic with her husband. Her trip goes off the rails from the very start—first losing her luggage, then facing the unthinkable when her daughter is kidnapped. Simone’s determination to handle everything herself, shutting her husband out, can make her frustrating at times. The pacing occasionally dragged, and some moments felt far-fetched. While the ending was satisfying enough, it lacked the level of twists I was hoping for.

As one of my favorite authors, she never disappoints, and this book is no exception. The suspenseful plot kept me guessing until the very end, and her writing style is as sharp and gripping as always. I was completely immersed in the story and appreciated how she weaves complex characters with intricate twists. Highly recommend to anyone who loves psychological thrillers!! Gillian McAllister is a master of her craft!

This latest book by GIllian McAllister was not my favorite. I really like her books but I feel like she will never top Wrong Place, Wrong Time, or Just Another Missing Person. This book takes us from England to Texas so Simone and her daughter can have a girls camping trip. Her daughter is kidnapped the first night there and she has to follow all the orders if she wants to get her back safe. Will she?

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I love Gillian's books and will continue to read them, but some people I have recommended her to, just don't like her style. Simone takes a trip to Texas to meet her daughter after camp to go camping on a girls trip. Things start going bad right away. Her luggage is lost, their door is broken, her daughter ends up kidnapped. She will do anything to get her back. Will she be succeed? I think this was far fetched, but it is fiction, so I'm not discounting it there. Also goes to show how corrupt people and gov't can be. I went back and forth with this book as to who was really behind all of it. I did enjoy it, but def not her best work.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A mother/daughter bonding trip to Texas goes off the rails when the daughter goes missing and the mother must commit a crime to get her daughter back.

I go back and forth with McAllister's writing. I thought Wrong Place, Wrong Time was super impressive and fast paced, but was very let down by Just Another Missing Person. I'm sad to say that this played-out trope of a book is lumped in with her sophomore effort. I basically just felt like I was reading a book that I had already read at least half a dozen others that did the trope better. I'm not sure what this book was adding to the genre here, but ingenuity and depth were not there for me and it made it difficult to keep my attention. Sadly, I won't be recommending this one to my followers.

Gillian McAllister books are always a hit or miss for me. With her complicated plots and writing style, I know that I'm in for a slow-burn adventure. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked. This book was as slow as molasses and dragged to the point of boredom. I stuck with it though and just when I thought that the pacing would increase with intensity, Simone goes off rambling on tangents that have nothing to do with anything relevant to the story. It was disruptive and resulted in me being unable to forge any kind of connection. Simone's obsession with her daughter was borderline psychotic. She was in her head for most of the book and that for me ruined any excitement or anticipation that I should have been feeling. I did enjoy how it all played out at the end though. A little over the top, but I have no problem suspending disbelief. I wish I could say that I loved it, but I really struggled to get through it. I still look forward to reading more from this author and I would still recommend. Other readers may have an entirely different experience than I did.

Thank you to William Morrow for granting me a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review!

When Simone’s visit to her daughter Lucy in Texas turns into a nightmare, she’s thrust into a dangerous game with a kidnapper who demands more than ransom… he demands a crime. From a deadly confrontation that leaves them fugitives, Simone’s choices push the boundaries of morality and survival. The story hurtles through deserts, safe houses, and desperate plans for escape, culminating in a twist that exposes the true mastermind. And forces the ultimate question, how far would you go to save your child?

For as much as I’ve enjoyed the complicated (yet still connected plots) of previous Gillian McAllister novels, I was a LITTLE bit disappointed by this one. With that said- this one kept me turning the pages and I read it in just over 24 hours because I absolutely needed to know what happened. While I still think her other novels (Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Famous Last Words, Just Another Missing Person) were a little stronger than this one, this was still a solid thriller/mystery that I’d recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Author McAllister again writes a brilliant thriller that drips with maternal fear. We had Jen in “Wrong Place, Wrong Time” and new mom Camilla in “Famous Last Words.” Now we are introduced to London resident and overprotective mom, Simone, who arrives in rural Fort Davis,Texas in the Big Bend region to meet up with her daughter Lucy. Lucy has spent the last month at an intense American vocal workshop (she intends to attend RADA, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and needs to be able to sing). The pair plan to camp (AirBnB style first) and they are initially reunited at a lonely collection of cabins just after midnight. But when Simone wakes up, Lucy’s phone is there but she is gone. But there is an older cellphone trilling under Lucy’s pillow. It rings, displaying “Caller Unknown” and a recorded voice instructs her to check the messages. The message is “we have your daughter; prepare to do a deal.”

Lucy also has a loving dad, Damien, who is getting an emergency flight to the US and wants Simone to call the police. But Simone is hesitant and lies that she will. So, with two deadlines, the kidnappers’ and the appearance of Damien, she reaches the rendezvous point and discovers that the ransom isn’t for money but an illegal “task” that will take her across the US-Mexican border. This apparently will not end well and the author takes on a twisted journey along a treacherous border area with unexpected revelations as we wonder if the truth will ever see the light of day.

This will make a terrific film. The action is intense and the experience of two British women in the Texan desert is alarming and stressful (for them and the reader!) You feel their frustrations about being in a strange land — even as an American reader who lives in the arid Intermountain West, the scorched landscape of snakes, scorpions, coyotes, javelinas and armed pursuers would terrify me. 5 stars!

Oh, I never knew about the what3words app, but now I do! Put these women in the hands of caring.saves.fool

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO Only the basic brown and blue.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): MAYBE Chihuahuan Desert is home to a large diversity of cacti, but Simone and Lucy don’t see those, and are experiencing mostly grasslands and spiky bushes like creosote.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

I really wanted to love this story, but there were several frustrating aspects of the story that kept me from fully enjoying it. The basic gist of the story is that Simone, who lives in the UK, is visiting her eighteen-year-old daughter, Lucy, in Texas. Lucy has been there for a few weeks attending camp, and Simone can’t wait to start their camping trip, when she awakens to find that Lucy has been kidnapped. Everything spirals from there.

One of the points of contention between Simone and her husband is contacting the police. She thinks it’s ludicrous to even consider doing that because the ransom message says not to or they will kill Lucy. As her husband points out, they always say that. And guess what? That’s because it’s the right thing to do. She disparages her husband and basically blurts out that she loves Lucy more because mothers just do. Excuse me? That theme runs throughout the story, and it’s infuriating. Especially because her character is ridiculously attached to an 18-year-old child, acting like her heart was ripped out when she traveled abroad. It’s seriously like that the whole story. It’s not a mother’s love, it’s obsession and dependency.

And even worse? Her daughter is a nightmare – a brat who doesn’t help out and expects her mother to do everything for her. And Simone’s character will recognize that now and then, but just ‘let it go.’ Multiple times in the story, she does this. Every bad decision Simone makes is a good one in her mind because it’s out of love for her daughter.

It’s just way over the top, and I couldn’t stand either of their characters and the stupid, dangerous decisions they kept making when they should have just turned themselves in from the start. Their reasoning not to isn’t much more than ‘but the evil authorities will never believe us.’ The first thing a foreigner does if they believe they are in trouble in a different country is to contact their embassy. They bring this up exactly one time and say that it probably wouldn’t help to do that. And that’s it! The entire time, they never consider that again, when that’s literally the first thing Simone should do.

I just couldn’t with this book. As someone the same age as Simone, with a daughter slightly older than Lucy, none of what happened is what I would ever do. The whole ‘fugitives in the desert’ aspect is just ridiculous. They encounter no wild animals, they have plenty of water, no infections or cuts, just completely unrealistic. I just hope the author’s next story is more grounded in reality.